Concert review: Counting Crows kick it back ot the '90s

jaymiller

Saturday

Aug 18, 2018 at 6:07 AMAug 18, 2018 at 10:58 AM

Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz might most resemble Bob Dylan as a songwriter, and most resemble Van Morrison as a singer. Like both of those two, he and his band like to transform even their old favorites into new arrangements, new interpretations and often unexpected directions.

That can be a bountiful source of pleasure for devoted fans of the group, but it can also lead to uneven performances, or places where fans who want to hear the songs exactly as they were recorded will be disappointed. Counting Crows have never been less than fascinating in our experience, although Duritz, like his two most immediate influences, can get 'the mumbles' now and then, and without catching the words, the tunes don't land with as much impact.

But Friday night's concert at The Xfinity Center in Mansfield, the latest stop on the band's “25 and Counting Tour” celebrating the anniversary of their smash debut album, “August and Everything After,” was a joyous house party all the way. Duritz has never been more engaging, spending time on long, oft-humorous, self-deprecating stories to explain some of the songs, and how they were written. As noted in the interview we did with him before this tour launched, his weekly podcast has helped make him a relaxed and charming raconteur. Turning 54 just three weeks ago, Duritz seems to have conquered most of his issues, and obviously relishes his musical job and the opportunity it gives him to communicate.

With Duritz' warmth and accessibility, and the rest of the septet's evident joy in playing, Counting Crows succeeded in making the outdoor arena feel like a living room party for the 10,000 or so in attendance. One theme that permeates the band's songs, which Duritz alluded to in a couple of his intros, is that personal lives are difficult for touring musicians, where to paraphrase the singer, “it doesn't matter how many poignant tunes you write, if you're always leaving..”

Yet they love the music and the process of making it and bringing it to the public, so it makes for a quandary that, for many, never gets solved. Insights like that helped make Friday night feel like an intimate look inside Duritz' writing, Counting Crows music, and the less-glamorous side of rock star life in general. Combine that with a band at the height of its powers, and Duritz being in fine voice, with some of his most soulful singing, and it made for a terrific night.

Counting Crows' 16-song, one hour-45-minute set began with “Mrs. Potter's Lullaby,” an easy rolling midtempo song, with the chorus lyrics flashed on the three video screens behind the stage to encourage some immediate singalong action. Dressed in blue jeans, and a black tee shirt with a big yellow bag of money on the front–an emblem of the band Teenage Fanclub we learned later, Duritz strode the stage among his mates. Counting Crows also includes David Bryson and Dan Vickrey on guitars, David Immergluck on guitar, mandolin, and pedal steel, Charlie Gillingham on keyboards, Jim Bogios on drums and Millard Powers on bass.

The group has been shifting tunes around in the setlist night by night, and Friday's second song was a relatively rare treat, as “Catapult” is a yearning love song that sounds like a deep cut left over from Dylan's landmark “Blonde on Blonde” album. Duritz used the next song intro to detail his early life, growing up all over the country with his father a doctor in the military, and of course it prompted a reaction when he noted that it included several years living in Watertown, Ma. From there it was off to Colorado and Texas, and eventually California. All those places played into writing a song that ironically was about a place he'd never lived, Duritz said, but “Omaha” was meant to represent what those travels taught him. That ballad, with mandolin and acoustic guitars, centers around its chorus, “let's get to the heart of the matter; it's the heart that matters,” and it generated one of the night's warmest singalongs.

Teenage Fanclub got a shout-out, when Counting Crows covered a song they like to use at soundcheck, and “Start Again” featured gorgeous four-part harmony vocals from Duritz, Immergluck, Bryson and Vickrey. “Anna Begins” came as a moody, jazz-inflected treatment that emphasized that strain on relationships the road causes. “Miami” approached the same theme from different angle, almost as a rock reverie, inspired by a night Duritz waited in an airport for his girlfriend, and contemplated his life in general, and musically it was framed by a subtly martial beat.

Immergluck's lap guitar enhanced the melancholy “Colorblind,” while “God of Ocean Tides” was a poignant ballad inspired by crossing the Mississippi River at night. The three guitarists donned acoustics for a spirited run through the Grateful Dead classic “Friend of the Devil,” and Duritz gave it a real soul vocal. The smoke machines created a mysterious aura for “Round Here,” one of the band's first and biggest hits, and with electric guitars and pedal steel they delivered it at a slowed tempo that emphasized the words like never before. That intro had been one of the most affecting as Duritz had noted how the band struggled in its early years, with him washing dishes, and Immergluck being “the world's worst record store employee,” even as they tried to perform every night, seeking to hone their craft. “We were just hoping at some point someone would notice..and then you did.”

Duritz went to the piano himself for the soul ballad (from their “Hard Candy” album), “Goodnight Los Angeles,” with Gillingham's organ lines also framing one of the singer's best vocals. Mandolin and Gillingham on accordion helped make the slow and heartfelt version of “A Long December” unforgettable. The regular set ended in a wildly celebratory “Hanginaround.”

For their encores, Counting Crows did the pounding piano-centered rocker “Palisades Park,” and then had the organ, accordion and mandolin create a wonderfully rootsy take on “Rain King.” The night ended with a smooth landing with “Holiday in Spain,” and Duritz and the band bid farewell to 10,000 of their closest pals.

Before the main set by Counting Crows the arena sound system played about half an hour of Aretha Franklin classics, a nice touch that fans clearly appreciated.

The band Live is on its third tour with Counting Crows, as singer/songwriter Ed Kowalczyk noted, and their huge hit album “Throwing Copper” arrived in 1994, so the two groups both became big headliners at about the same time. Live, the York, Pennsylvania quartet, had a bit more rocky road since then, however, as songwriter Kowalczyk split in 2009 for a solo career, and the band continued on with a replacement, with lawsuits back and forth. But by the end of 2016, the original lineup was back together, and Friday night they sounded in peak form. It was probably no surprise that five of their 13 tunes came from “Throwing Copper,” but that was a fabulous album, sort of moderating the edge and heaviness of metal and grunge, and giving it a bit of a pop mask.

Live, expanded to a six-piece with a second drummer, and extra guitarist, opened with a blazing run through “All Over You,” kind of a hard-rock, frenzied love song, and Kowalczyk, in black tee, black cap, black vest and shades, slammed it out with verve, until the crowd took over for him. The newer “Love Lounge” seemed even harder edged and heavier. “Pain Lies On the Riverside” was an interesting number, another insistent rocker that was closer to Pearl Jam than pop, as if Live is aiming for a heavier sound.

“The Dolphin's Cry” and “Selling the Drama” were two more old favorites delivered with gusto, and then Chad Taylor's slide guitar helped make their cover of Jimmy Reed's “Baby What You Want me To Do?” into an appealing blues stroll. A torrid rendition of “I Alone” ended in a fiery guitar squall. For their encores, Live nodded towards Kowalczyk's solo talents, as he did “Heaven,” about the birth of his daughter (who's now 16, and has three siblings, he noted) solo on acoustic guitar. “Turn My Head” was also mostly a solo acoustic turn by the singer, although Taylor joined him for the last few choruses. Live's night ended with their biggest hit, “Lightning Crashes,” but they started it slowly, with a very gradual buildup to the potency of the full band. Predictably, by the time they finished the whole throng of 10,000 was singing with them, capping off a 75-minute set that confirmed Live can still be a formidable presence.

Early arrivals got to hear about an enjoyable half hour set from the rhythmic rock trio Boom Forest.